New York
- When
your spouse dies - you need to be concerned about what minimum distribution rule you
originally selected.

Required distributions are
based on two things: the joint life expectancy of the IRA owner and the beneficiary, and
the payment method chosen by the IRA owner when he or she turned 70 1/2. There are two
payment methods. The first is to recalculate your joint life expectancy every year (the
recalculation method). If your spouse dies - the expectancy is then calculated based on
your life.

The second (the term certain) requires a joint life
expectancy calculation only once. If you joint life expectancy is 20 years today, next
year it is 19.

The term certain method provides no change in the payout
schedule for the beneficiary. With the recalculation method, the surveyor must recalculate
minimum distributions using a single life expectancy. the result is generally an
accelerated distribution schedule.